Texas Rangers right-hander Bartolo Colon flirted with a perfect game and no-hitter against the reigning World Series champion Houston Astros before the dream came to a crashing halt in the eighth inning.

Colon pitched a perfect game through seven innings on Sunday night in Houston before surrendering a leadoff eighth-inning walk to Carlos Correa to allow his first baserunner of the game.

He then saw his no-hit bid disappear when Astros outfielder Josh Reddick hammered a double in the following at-bat.

With the game tied 1-1 and Colon out of gas having thrown 96 pitches (83 fastballs), Rangers manager Jeff Bannister went to his bullpen to summon reliever Alex Claudio, who would strand the go-ahead run at third. Colon finished the night having allowed one run off one hit and a walk while striking out seven over 7 1/3 innings.

At 44 years and 326 days, Colon would have been the oldest pitcher ever to throw a no-hitter. In the last century, only four pitchers have thrown no-hitters at age-40 or over (Nolan Ryan, Cy Young, Randy Johnson, and Warren Spahn).

Colon's seven perfect innings were the third-most by a pitcher age 40 or older in the last 30 years, behind Johnson and Ryan, according to STATS.

Despite failing to make history, Colon still has plenty to be encouraged about. He lowered his season ERA to 1.45 through 18 2/3 innings after posting a 6.48 ERA over 28 starts in 2017.